y. We had expected to be
able to do this assembly and approach in our own time, but through our
secret service a copy was obtained of a Turkish order for an attack
down the Nablus-Jerusalem road by two fresh divisions, timed for 6
A.M. on 27th December. This was only secured, however, three days in
advance, and it was not till 3 P.M. on Christmas Eve that we got
orders to move at once to our position of readiness in the Wadi Zait.

We hurriedly packed up, H.Q. cursing their luck at not being able to
enjoy their turkey in peace, and got off about 6 P.M. Just after we
started it began to rain heavily, and by 8 P.M., when the camel convoy
tried to climb the hill out of the wadi, it was so slippery that they
had to give it up. The quartermaster's hopes were then pinned on the
donkeys, who were being tried for the first time, but the mud and
cold proved too much for them. They managed to get most of them as far
as Kubeibe--about half way--but they were quite incapable of going any
farther. It was an awful night; such squalls and rain that the best
mackintosh, much less greatcoat, was quite useless, and as our course
lay along the Roman road we never left the exposed top of the ridge.
It was not so bad while we were moving, but with a brigade in single
file and a good many obstructions on the track, the rear of the column
sometimes had to halt for half an hour while those in front negotiated
some specially rough or slippery place.

Up till midnight there were fair intervals, and we kept on getting wet
and then drying again; but midnight found us quite near our old camp
at Q 20 central, fully exposed to a gale and torrents of rain.

The battalion in front of us had to descend the steep and slippery
side of the Wadi Selman, which was just like a mud slide, and we had
to stand at the top for more than half an hour. The length of the
descent was only about 500 yards, and in the daylight and when it was
dry fatigue parties and even camels used to get down in about ten
minutes, but now, what with the rain and the passage of the unit in
front of us, it had become indescribably slippery. Men were falling
down every few yards, and the mules were not much better. It took two
hours for the Battalion to cover this 500 yards.

Wishing each other a very happy Christmas, we started on the last
stage of our journey along the bottom of the wadi, which was almost a
river, to our pitch in the Wadi Zait. We sat there till dawn--sleep
was out